


I Destroy What I Love

by ShellyNelsonLahey



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Jeronica, Vughead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 21:40:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21435127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShellyNelsonLahey/pseuds/ShellyNelsonLahey
Summary: Jughead Jones, upset and confused, let his feet wander until he came across Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe. It wasn’t for the food, though, because Veronica Lodge was there cleaning up during the graveyard shift. And it is then that secrets are revealed and feelings are admitted.
Relationships: Jughead Jones & Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones/Veronica Lodge, jughead jones x veronica lodge
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52





	I Destroy What I Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The Jeronica Nation](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=The+Jeronica+Nation).

> This is dedicated to the Jeronica Nation, I love all of you 🥺❤️

Veronica Lodge hummed quietly to herself as she wiped a damp blue rag soaked in cleaning products in circular motions over the countertops. With the clock ticking at half an hour after midnight, Pop’s was empty and dark, even with the light from the 24-hour sign. Sometimes she liked the peaceful silence, but in times where her mind raced between a million different thoughts, she despised it. It was absolutely awful because she knew that the sweet release of sleep wouldn’t come until she addressed her manic thoughts.

A knock on the wobbly windows frightened the poor girl out of her skin. “Veronica? You’re still here?”

She knew that voice. Even if it was more shaky and fragile than usual, she knew. Turning around to prove herself right, Veronica took in Jughead’s appearance. Dark, wavy, messy hair, pink shiny nose and cheeks from the nipping chill of the night, and his eyes were drooped red and raw like he had been crying for a few hours. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his Serpent jacket, whether that was because it was his comforting, shielding stance or he was trying to keep his hands warm, she wasn’t sure. Ushering over to the door, Veronica flung it open and stood to the side to let him in. “God, Jughead, are you okay?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. Alcohol doesn’t seem to be helping,” Jughead murmured, sliding into the closest booth. She could smell the pungent odor on him, but it wasn’t like it was anything new to her senses. Still smelled absolutely awful, though.

“Jughead…” she wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t know what had been going on, considering she has been here at Pop’s since the graveyard shift started, and before that she was sleeping to prepare. Ditching her damp rag, Veronica placed it on the counter she was previously cleaning before she sat opposite of him in the booth by the elongated window.

Jughead croaked, “I wasn’t sure who to talk to, i’ve just been wandering around and I guess this is where my feet took me. To you… To Pop’s.”

“You’ve been walking around in the cold? Jughead—” Veronica huffed, about to chastise him about being reckless until she realized that something bad had happened for him to be doing it in the first place. He came here for comfort, not to be reprimanded. Reaching across the table, she squeezed one of his hands and sent him a small smile that told him that he could talk to her about anything. “What happened?”

“I destroy everything I love, Veronica,” Jughead turned his head away from her gaze and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep the tears at bay. “Everything that’s good for me, I end up pushing it away… it’s almost like I want to stay in these dark places where I hate every decision I make simply because it seems like the most comfortable. But I don’t want to do that anymore, I want to actually be… happy. _Genuinely_ happy.”

“What are you not happy with?” Veronica inquired, head tilting but eyes staying glued onto his puffy face.

Jughead didn’t want to say it out loud, because if he did, then he made it real. But even though he didn’t want to admit it, to say something he knew would break him just a little bit more, he also knew that he could trust Veronica with anything. She was incredible at giving advice, and was understanding and would never tell another soul. So, he spilled his guts to her. “Betty.”

“You’re not happy with Betty?” Veronica furrowed her eyebrows, contemplating moving her hand up to squeeze his shoulder as a way to comfort him. However, she released a small, sad sigh, and instead squeezed his hand just a little bit harder. Then, she spoke only what she would want to be told in his situation, what she was told when she was in a similar situation back in the city. “Jughead, if you don’t want to be in that dark place, then you have to be brave enough to bring yourself to make the decision to better your life. Back in New York when I used to be that awful, teenage rich bitch princess, there were a couple of times I thought about where my life was heading to, and I didn’t have the ability to step away from those bad decisions. At least, not until I moved to Riverdale and could allow myself to start over and be better.”

“Are you saying that I should distance myself from Betty?” Jughead turned back to Veronica, and she could have swore she felt her heart break in half at the sight of how conflicted and hurt he was at the thought of distancing himself from a girl who was his main solace. “I guess I only have myself to blame for having to go through with the hard decisions considering I jumped into a relationship with her when I didn’t even like her.”

Veronica seemed taken aback at that statement, but didn’t speak about it because she knew that when he was ready to talk about it, he would. “I’m assuming you two broke up.”

“Yeah, and i’m not sure how to really feel about it. I mean, it sucks, but we both knew it had been coming for awhile now,” he murmured, rubbing his hands over his face in exhaustion. “And it doesn’t help that we both knew we weren’t good for each other. I mean, you brought it up a long time ago during a fight with Betty. Her and I, we’re so co-dependent on one another, and bring out the worst of the bad inside of us.”

A corner of Veronica’s lips tugged up in sympathy. “I’m sorry that you two broke up. It was clearly for the best, but it’s goin to be a big change in your life and I know from almost constant experience just how much it sucks.”

The two grew silent. Veronica was trying to be as delicate yet helpful as she could, but she wasn’t sure how to continue on. Jughead leaned his head on his left arm and glanced at the beautiful, just-as-sad girl sitting in front of him with a soft laugh. “You know what’s funny? It took Betty and I admitting to using one another to end our relationship.”

“What do you mean you used each other?”

“You touched on it a little bit in that fight with Betty. How I would always be second to Archie. You were right, I was pretty much just a placeholder for Betty until she felt she was ready to be with Archie. One time we even had an argument about that exact thing, but she lied and assured me she didn’t like him anymore. I dropped it because I wanted to believe it, but I could see through her bullshit; she has always liked Archie and she will always choose him over anybody.” Jughead swatted away the sympathetic expression taking over Veronica’s features, even though it was pretty much her constant facial expression by this point. “But, hey, I can’t be mad because I kind of did the same.” Jughead slipped his hand out from Veronica’s grasp, leaning back into the booth. Tapping his fingers on the table, he pondered whether he should tell her the whole truth. The truth that involved her.

Ever since he had met her the first day she showed up in Riverdale, he had been enamored with her. She was beautiful, headstrong, bold, and had this burning passion inside of her that competed against the one he held in himself. Veronica Cecelia Lodge wasn’t perfect, but she damn well neared it. And while he may have hidden his feelings behind empty insults and feign distaste, there was no doubt that Jughead Jones had fallen for the north side princess.

Growing slightly impatient with Jughead internally fighting with himself and his thoughts, Veronica furrowed her eyebrows in concern and voiced, “what do you mean you did the same? Who were you using Betty as a placeholder for?”

If there was any moment to tell Veronica how he truly felt about her, would there be any time better than now? Now that him and Betty were finally over with, and they were both single? “Do you remember when we first met, Veronica? I walked into Pop’s with Archie, and you looked at me with your cute brown sugar eyes as you sipped on your chocolate milkshake? I sat beside you in the booth, and you smelled like fresh raspberries and, to be honest, I had never wanted to eat fruit more than I did in that moment.”

“Yeah, of course I remember. I made fun of your name and you climbed around me to get to the inside of the booth instead of waiting for me to move down,” she paused to laugh for a few moments at the memory, “if I was the girl I used to be, I would find you utterly unattractive personality wise, but then I got a whiff of your woodsy cologne and it sent my senses into a frenzy and that judgmental old-Veronica thought went away.” As the next part of the memory came back up, her smile widened and she pointed towards him. "Oh, and then you said some joke that I had to force myself to stop laughing at in order to not look like an idiot. I crushed on you big time, to be completely frank. Being funny is one of my favorite qualities in my potential significant others.”

“R—Really?” Jughead’s lips slowly upturned into a cute, flustered smirk. “I stopped using that cologne when Betty and I started dating because she didn’t like it. It was too much for her senses… however, now that we’ve broken up, maybe I should use it again in hopes that some beautiful, classy woman will fall in love with my scent, wit, and charm.”

“Easy there, tiger, I get that you’re going through a big new change in your life right now and you seem ready to get back on the horse, but don’t forget that I can smell the alcohol on your breath, Jughead,” Veronica narrowed her gaze at him, crossing her arms to show him she was being serious. “We can continue this conversation when you’ve sobered up tomorrow. You can take up one of the booths in La Bonne Nuit like I do.”

“C’mon, Veronica, both of us know how much we’ve secretly been wanting each other, and we’re both single now! Besides, I’m not that drunk—wait, what do you mean, ‘like you do?’ You… sleep downstairs, Veronica?” Jughead followed the Lodge girl as she attempted to ignore the question by finishing up with maintenance. “Veronica, why are you sleeping in the speakeasy?”

When he was living at the school, when their friend group had found out, she was one of the first to offer up half of her bedroom. While he may have turned it down, it was the offer that meant a lot to him and now it was his chance to do the same because, finally, he had a real, wooden home. Somewhere she could sleep that wasn’t on a small, pull-out couch.

Veronica gave in with a huff, knowing that Jughead wouldn’t relent until she had given him an answer. “My father kicked me out of the Pembrooke because I chose the Serpents over my family, and he took away my stock in Lodge Industries, so I don’t have much money. I’m just… trying to make enough until I can afford an apartment, or something.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“Because I didn’t want anybody’s pity,” she sighed bluntly, “so, please, go down to the speakeasy and get some sleep in one of the large corner booths or something. I’ll join you after my shift is up, okay?”

“… Only because I am exhausted. Tomorrow, we’ll talk, yeah?”

Veronica watched as his body sluggishly started for the entrance to the speakeasy. She smiled gently, even though he wouldn’t be able to see it. “Yeah. We’ll talk more tomorrow."

Jughead woke up to the smell of coffee, eggs, bacon, and pancakes. At first, he didn’t remember what had happened the night before. It wasn't because of the alcohol, but because he was displayed comfortably across a familiar couch and it didn’t dawn on him that he wasn’t actually at the Smith-Jones household for a few moments. He opened his seafoam green eyes and furrowed his eyebrows, glancing around in confusion. That’s when it all hit him. The breakup, coming to Pop’s, telling Veronica how he felt. And now he was downstairs in La Bonne Nuit with a fuzzy purple blanket draped over his hips.

Running a hand through his messy hair, he yawned, loosely grabbing the one thing that would give away the fact that he had slept in the speakeasy, and dropped it off on a chair in Veronica’s office. Then, he made his way up the stairs and was hit face-first with the aroma of breakfast. Of course, it wasn’t specifically for him. The diner was booming for citizens wanting a nice, hearty breakfast. From the sunrise outside, he guessed it was about five in the morning, and Jughead admired that while Veronica hadn’t gotten much sleep last night from working, but she was still up with the rest of the crew busying about taking orders and bussing tables.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Veronica snickered, handing him a plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, with a cup of hot chocolate from Pop himself. He could tell because of the mint on top; that was their thing, so either Pop made it, or he had told Veronica. “I was going to make you coffee, but then Pop said that you two had this thing where he makes you hot cocoa with mint? I don’t know, but I hope you’re hungry.”

“Did you just ask me, Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Third, if I was _hungry_?” Jughead raised his eyebrows as she sent him a playful glare and slid his plate onto the counter. “That’s hilarious.”

“It’s called being polite, Jughead,” Veronica excused, although the cute smirk that lifted up a corner of her mouth made a chuckle escape past his. “But, anyways, bon appétit.”

Jughead brought his hand up, wrapping his fingers around her arm to stop her from leaving. “Wait… Uh, when are we going to have our talk?”

Veronica’s face deflated, although as quick as it had come, it left. Bucking up, she sent the boy a soft smile. “After you eat, okay? Just enjoy your meal and we’ll talk later.”

“Later as in you’re going to disappear by the time I finish eating?” Jughead crossed his arms, stretching out his fingers to move the plate away from him. “Then I guess we can talk before I eat.”

“You’re food’s going to get cold and i’m not going to remake it,” Veronica warned, but when Jughead’s stature didn’t falter, she dropped her attitude and slipped into the barstool beside him. “Fine. We’ll talk now. But you better eat, I don’t want it getting cold. I worked hard to make this all by myself and you need to enjoy it while it’s fresh.”

With a victorious smile, Jughead used the edge of his fork to cut into the stacked pancakes. “So, what shall we talk about first, mmhm?”

Veronica sucked in a sharp breath. “I guess I should start with why i’m living in the speakeasy, huh?”

“Sounds like a solid place to start,” Jughead nodded, taking another bite as he raised his eyebrows patiently.

“Look, you know how my dad is. He’s ruthless, and ever since I sided with the Serpents, he’s been trying to belittle me into believing that I can never defeat him.” Veronica’s honey eyes averted to the white countertop, sorrow rippling through her features. Jughead desperately wanted to reach out and make her feel better, but he wasn’t sure if a gentle, kind touch from him would do anything to ease her mood, so instead he stayed put and continued to chew his pancakes. “He can’t use any mind games on me if I’m not living at The Pembrooke, so until I scrounge up enough money to get myself a small apartment, this is all I can do for now.”

“Why didn’t you come to any of us?” Jughead questioned, disheartened that she would rather live in an establishment than ask a friend for their couch. He understood because he knew exactly how she felt, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t want to ask. He just didn’t want to be a burden, and Veronica was never a burden to anyone. “We would give you a place to stay, Ron.”

“Really? Coming from the boy who thought that inviting him and their significant others to a weekend getaway was actually some ploy from her criminal father?” Veronica chuckled at the thought. “Ever since Archie and I broke up, he’s been distant. He’s been focused on anything other than hashing out our feelings and what happened between us, and Betty still hasn’t apologized for any of the bullshit she’s done to me. I have no one, Jughead.”

“Well, you may not be in a great place with them, but they’d never let you sleep here if they knew. But you’re wrong, you know… you have me.” Jughead shoved the plate away from him as some way to show her that he was serious. “Just because we’ve all had some sort of row with you, doesn’t mean we wouldn’t be there for you when you need us.”

“So, where were all of you when my father was emotionally abusing me into doing his bidding? Right, focused on criticizing me and your own lives even though I am always there for all three of you when you need help!” Veronica scoffed, shaking her head as words that always bubbled up her throat but never made it past her lips were finally being heard. However, she never meant to take it out on Jughead specifically, but she couldn’t help herself. Not only was she exhausted, but she couldn’t get any sleep after her shift last night because her mind refused to let her close her eyes. “When it’s me, you all find some way to make me the bad guy, as if bad guys don’t deserve sympathy. That’s why I honestly can’t believe you when you say you love me, or whatever, because all you’ve ever shown is anger and distaste towards me.”

Jughead’s face fell. He knew she wasn’t lying, he did give off those vibes and he couldn’t deny that, but she didn’t know that it wasn’t what she thought. “I know, and for that i’m sorry. But that doesn’t mean that every time you cried I didn’t want to wrap you in my arms and tell you that it would be alright, that every time you vented I couldn’t help but revel in how hot you looked when you were angry, or how I loved your intellect. Betty’s smart, but not in the same way we are, Veronica. That is why I am so in love with you, because you don’t try to be little miss perfect, and you are unapologetically yourself.”

“So, basically, i’m not Betty?” Veronica narrowed her gaze at the boy. “If I was more your type, then why get with her in the first place? Why use her as a placeholder for me, when I was right there?”

“She was hurt over Archie, and she showed interest in this loner boy nobody liked. And over time I didn’t want to hurt her, so we stayed together… but now neither of us want to drag ourselves into the ground to keep up this facade that we love each other when we don’t,” Jughead murmured. “We need to be with the people we actually want to be with.”

“Meaning… me?”

“Yeah, but first I have to get you to sleep in a bed and not a booth,” Jughead crossed his arms sternly. “So i’m going to talk to my dad and Alice, and get you settled in somewhere. We are not allowing you to sleep in the speakeasy, okay? And then I am going to apologize for every mean look and word and thought I ever had about you.”

Veronica didn’t want to admit she needed help, but she bit her tongue for his sake. However, she allowed a smirk to uplift the corners of her mouth. “Oh, and how are you going to apologize?”

Jughead flipped out his phone and turned to her. “Well, in my dreams it would be a deep, romantic kiss filled with regret and sorrow for every time I caused you pain, but I feel that’s a bit too cheesy and cutesy for your tastes so i’ll probably write about each time and how sorry I am.”

“Who said I didn’t like romantic, cheesy, and cutesy?”

“I don’t know, but i’m so glad they’re wrong.”

“Yeah, I bet you are, Jones. Remember when we kissed in the hot tub? I was pulling away and you wouldn’t let me,” she snickered. “Begging to do that again, are you?”

“I’m usually a modest man but even I can’t lie to you when I said that, yes, I have been dying to kiss you again.”

Veronica winked, “well, it’s a good thing you have to apologize to me many… _many_ times.”


End file.
